January. Named for the Roman god Janus: god of beginnings and endings, depicted with two faces, one looking to the past and one to the future. Sounds poetic enough, but generally speaking, January never seems like the most interesting month of the year. Everyone is recovering from holiday madness, it's the worst part of the winter in the North, and now we all have to remember to write a new date on everything, leading to serious dilemmas in 2018: should I make my eights with two independent circles, or one continuous figure-eight line? Aaarrgh!
But dig a little bit, and it turns out there are some interesting things in January after all. Take today, January 3rd, for example: on this date in 1959, the great state of Alaska became the 49th state in the Union. Some important people were born, including the philosopher: Cicero, Formula One racer: Michael Schumacher, author: J.R.R. Tolkien, and...my mom! Happy birthday, Mom!
So how is January 3rd, 2018 shaping up? Well, it's snowing in Florida, Mike Tyson just broke ground on a 40 acre "marijuana ranch" in California, and science has figured out how to grow real meat in a lab - without animals. Dear Janus, how's the rest of 2018 look?